WILDFIRE SPREADS; TRAILER PARK EVACUATED

Burn pushed by wind in Anza-Borrego Desert expected to continue over holiday weekend

Miles-per-hour winds gusting in the Anza-Borrego Desert, fanning the flames of the Banner fire, which began Thursday near the base of Banner Grade

NORTH COUNTY

A vacation trailer park was evacuated Friday and a county road was closed for a second time as the 3,100-acre Banner fire continued to burn across the Anza-Borrego Desert.

The new evacuations, at Stagecoach Trails RV Resort, were ordered about 1 p.m. Three sheriff’s deputies helped 50 occupants and two horses get out of the park quickly.

County Road S2 was closed between mile marker 27 and Great Sandy Trail Road as winds gusting to 30 mph pushed flames to the south very close to the resort, Cal Fire spokesman Tom Piranio said. He said the trailer park is 40 miles north of the Agua Caliente hot springs resort, which was not in danger.

The fire is expected to continue burning through most of the Memorial Day weekend. About 500 firefighters are battling the blaze.

The cause of the fire, the county’s largest this year, remains under investigation. Low clouds and fog at Ramona Airport and in Hemet prevented Cal Fire aircraft from taking off Friday until about 1 p.m., when conditions improved.

A Red Cross spokeswoman said volunteers set up a temporary evacuation center at Borrego Springs High School for the RV resort evacuees, as they did for 14 Shelter Valley residents on Thursday.

The fire broke out about 2:15 p.m. Thursday on private land near the base of the Banner Grade, which connects the mountains east of Julian to the desert floor, Cal Fire Capt. Daryll Piña said.

Gusty breezes drove the flames east, away from a house on the property south of state Route 78 and county Road S2, Piña said.

The blaze then headed toward the Shelter Valley desert community, where deputies helped 100 residents evacuate for several hours on Thursday.

A few went to the evacuation center, and all were allowed to return home by 9:30 p.m.

Thursday night’s weather conditions “definitely helped us,” Cal Fire spokesman Thomas Shoots said from a fire camp base near Warner Springs on Friday. “The winds picked up, but it stayed moist. Flames were coming toward Shelter Valley, but we were able to stop it at the edge of the community.”

Flames shifted south Friday morning, to Granite Mountain, over ground that had burned the day before, and across rugged desert terrain.

“That’s what the Great fire burned last year, so it’s starting to burn into that old scar,” Piña said.

The Great fire scorched more than 2,000 acres near Shelter Valley in October.

The weather Friday helped and hindered firefighting efforts.

The day started out cool and partly cloudy, with temperatures up to 65 degrees, but winds increased in the late afternoon and evening. Gusts up to 50 mph were possible overnight, the National Weather Service said.

Winds will diminish slightly today but will remain strong in the desert area, the weather service said.

Barring a wind shift that would change the direction of the fire today, the blaze is expected to continue a southerly path in an area of largely desolate desert terrain, Piranio said.

Winds also were gusty when a small fire broke out shortly before 5 p.m. Friday near Dulzura south of state Route 94 and Sycamore Canyon Road, but a Cal Fire air attack brought it quickly under control, Piranio said.